Don't Touch My Sausage

The W.H.O. (World Health Organization) has issued a report placing processed meats such as hot dogs, sausage and bacon in the same carcinogenic category as cigarettes. It also stated that red meats "probably are carcinogenic". Probably is not a definitive word.

If you read this blog regularly you should be aware that I'm pro science. Sound evidence driven research can lead us to a better life. Sketchy research evidence can lead to unwarranted fear.

Placing sausage in the same category of cancer causing agents such as cigarettes is over the top. What will our friends in the U.K. do? Bangers and mash are a treasured dish, this report could cause a national crisis with millions of Brits taking to the streets.

In America the venerable hot dog is as sacred as Mom, apple pie and the flag. I suppose this could finally unify our country, only time will tell.

I support independent health organizations issuing sound warnings about the food we consume, but I do not accept findings which use the word "probably". We all have to eat and frankly a life of only lentils and tofu is not a life worth living. The wisdom to not over indulge in certain categories of food is all you need to guide you and we all know what those are.

In my brief half century on this planet I have witnessed the condemnation and redemption of many food and beverage items. Let's look at coffee. In my teens there was a loud prominent health campaign to annihilate coffee. It was bad for you on multiple levels and you'd better stop drinking it before the Grim Reaper shows up one morning, after your third cup, and escorts you to hell. In the past few years however, medical research now suggests that coffee is a preventive measure to colon cancer.

Pork was horribly villified for decades, then it became the other white meat.

Around 1975 (don't hold me to that exact year) the U.S. Senate held a hearing about the "crisis" of Americans eating too much red meat and the heart disease it was allegedly causing. The hearing concluded Americans were eating too much fat and warned that consumption needed to be reduced. This lead the way into an entirely new category of foods called Fat Free. In the years to follow the U.S. would see an explosion, no pun intended, of obesity and diabetes. You see fat free is also flavor free. In order to maintain taste the sugar levels were increased, along with other artificial flavorings. Fat Free, Lite, and Reduced Calorie are overused and highly manipulative marketing terms used to suck in frightened consumers. The W.H.O. should devote some time to analyze that modern phenomenon.

What about all those recommendations that you eat more fish? Yes fish, a resource that increasingly comes from areas of the world with polluted waters. How about the mercury levels in that fish? How about the fact that fish is no where near as regulated as beef, pork and chicken? I'm not anti fish, in fact some of it is quite tasty. But the next time you're chowing down on that over priced rubbery lobster just remember it's the cockroach of the sea.

Enjoy your dinner, if you can!